When NRL club chief executives dialled in for their fortnightly video conference call on Wednesday morning, talk soon turned, as it often does, to transfer windows.
Should the movement of rugby league talent be limited to two or three trade periods throughout a season? Is the constant speculation about player movement good or bad for the game?
It’s a debate that has been raging for decades, one brought into sharp focus again by the intrigue over the futures of Payne Haas, Mitch Barnett, Jahream Bula and, most recently, Bronson Xerri.
There is no bigger advocate for the status quo than the players’ union. During Wednesday’s call, Rugby League Players’ Association (RLPA) chief executive Clint Newton restated his reasons why trade windows wouldn’t work in rugby league.
Two hours earlier, one of his RLPA directors, Chad Townsend, seemingly put out a contrary view. Speaking on the Zero Tackle podcast, Townsend spruiked why, under the right circumstances, they may benefit the game.
Some club chief executives wondered whether everyone at the union was on the same page.
“Because of the constant prosecution through the media, I addressed our free labour market and contracting restrictions with club CEOs this week. Not one CEO challenged me or asked a question on it in the meeting,” Newton said on Friday.
“It is shameful that someone on that call has since leaked details despite saying nothing directly. Let’s be clear: the target is the players when clubs attempt to strip away their rights for greater control and power, despite us being in the most competitive era in NRL history.
“No trade or transfer system in world sport eliminates fan discontent or speculation around player movement.
“In the most level playing field in world sport, clubs only stay at the bottom because of their own poor management of the cap, roster and players. That’s a fact.”
‘No trade or transfer system in world sport eliminates fan discontent or speculation around player movement.’
Clint Newton
Newton is, from an editorial perspective, preaching to the converted. Even if, for instance, Haas or Barnett or Xerri are prohibited from negotiating with rival clubs until designated periods of the season, journalists such as myself will still continue to report on where they could eventually end up.
The rugby league news cycle can be broken up into three broad categories of story. There are the good-news yarns (player profiles, match previews), which generally don’t rate online. Then there are the bad-news stories (coach and player sackings, atrocities), which generally do get clicks. But often the most-read stories are revelations about potential signings, which is why those types of stories keep getting written. For proof, look at the way Lachlan Galvin and Daly Cherry-Evans dominated last season’s news cycle.
It’s also one of the reasons why the old June 30 transfer window was abolished. Despite the anti-tampering deadline, transfer gossip – often confirmed in the first few hours of July – would provide a constant source of media content. As former NRL boss David Gallop said at the time, there’s no point having a rule you can’t police.
So why try to quarantine the types of yarns that punters most want to read about to two or three blocks of the year? Why not lean into an endless source of rugby league theatre?
The same Broncos fans lamenting the news, delivered a year in advance, that Haas won’t be at the club in 2027 are soon buoyed by revelations that fellow NSW forward Barnett will take his place. If Xerri remains on the outer at Canterbury, why should a club in desperate need of an outside back – if both the Bulldogs and Xerri consent – not be able to accommodate him? Why are we trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist?
In the United States, there’s a trend, particularly among the younger generation, for fans to follow individual players, rather than teams. Broncos fullback Reece Walsh, who has more social media followers than the team he plays for, is a pointer towards the emergence of the individual megastar here. But for the most part, locals are rusted onto the teams they grew up supporting, even if they occasionally need to farewell one of their heroes. If Walsh leaves Red Hill, most Broncos fans won’t follow.
Some will point to how domestic (AFL) or overseas (NBA) leagues benefit from transfer windows. However, those sports also incorporate a draft, and attempts to introduce one into rugby league have been defeated in court.
Townsend – like Newton, the clubs and stakeholders – is entitled to his views. On Friday, the premiership-winning halfback clarified his position; he is a supporter of the current system, and the RLPA would need something in exchange from the NRL, at the next collective bargaining negotiations, to replace it. Townsend added that his comments on the podcast were to inspire debate, something he feels should be encouraged.
“We have the closest competition there is, we have flexibility for the players to secure their futures from November 1, and it’s only a small percentage of players who [switch mid-season] anyway,” he said.
“If there is someone out there with a better idea, let’s hear it and have a discussion about it.”
As it stands, there isn’t.
